Conservation Efforts in Detroit

With a generation of young adults leaving in droves to find work, population decline is a serious issue with far-reaching consequences in Detroit. Once home to 1.9 million people, Detroit now has just 700,000 residents, leaving an estimated 30,000 acres of distressed land. Its rivers are polluted, and its parks are left with no one to care for them. But don’t count Detroit out yet.

The people of Detroit are proud and resourceful. They love their city and want to see it bounce back and be even better than before. We believe in Detroit’s future, and we’re helping its recovery be green.

Parks With Purpose

We’ve taken on several projects with the intent to support green businesses and restore Detroit’s green spaces. This includes helping to restore Rouge Park as part of our Parks With Purpose program. We created this program to address the specific challenges facing urban conservation efforts. Parks With Purpose is about much more than protecting urban green space and parks. For each project, we work with the local community to identify, protect and restore the very best land that creates safer places for children to play and families to gather.

Rouge Park

Fund staffers help out at the Go Zero planting in Rouge Park.Established in 1920, Rouge Park is one of America’s biggest urban green spaces, covering more than 1,100 acres. The park, on Detroit’s west side, is home to the city’s only remaining riverside forest, where a variety of wildlife, including bald eagles, make their home. Two miles of the Rouge River flow through the park, supporting an abundance of fish such as sturgeon, silver and green bass, salmon and walleye.

For years Rouge Park was a gathering place for the community. Families came to picnic, swim and play outdoors. There is a golf course and driving range, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, playgrounds, bike trails, camp sites and swimming pools. Today it is owned by the city, but is essentially cared for by local groups, including Friends of Rouge Park and The Greening of Detroit. They hope to restore the park, turning it once more into a popular destination for residents. Go Zero® Tree Planting

Donations from U-Haul and its customers to The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero program will support the planting of 1,600 trees at Rouge Park, led by The Greening of Detroit. This effort is the result of a seven-year partnership between U-Haul and the Fund to protect and restore wild areas. U-Haul purchased and revitalized the historic seven-story NBC-Nabisco Building in New Center—reopening it as a self-storage facility this year, and the company continues to help restore Detroit through a variety of initiatives. Go Zero aims to restore 100 acres in Rouge Park. Learn more >>

Growing Detroit’s Green Economy Fund

Communities depend on the growing green economy to help ensure there will be local jobs, and restored forests, clean streams, healthy food and safe, accessible parks in the future. Established by U-Haul and The Conservation Fund, Growing Detroit’s Green Economy Fund will provide small grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the city that provide financial assistance to the most promising entrepreneurs and organizations that need a leg up to leverage and scale their efforts.

Many green entrepreneurs have a hard time finding the technical and financial resources they need to grow their enterprises. With limited personal resources and banks reluctant to lend money, it can be hard for these small businesses and organizations to flourish, no matter how bright their future may be. Growing Detroit’s Green Economy Fund is there to help.

Conservation Efforts in Detroit

Planting Preparations

Shovels were at the ready for volunteers at the Rouge Park tree planting, which started at 8:30 in the morning. The Fund's partner, The Greening of Detroit, led the day's activities. Photo by Ivan LaBianca.

Go Zero Tree Planting Event At Rouge Park

The Fund joined partners U-Haul and The Greening of Detroit for a tree-planting event in Detroit's Rouge Park on September 28, 2013. Donations from U-Haul and its customers to The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero® program will help pay for planting of 1,600 trees at Rouge Park. Go Zero aims to restore 100 acres in Rouge Park. Photo by Ivan LaBianca.

Senator Carl Levin At Rouge Park

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan attended the event, celebrating the community's mobilization to restore Rouge Park. Covering more than a thousand acres, Rouge Park is one of the largest urban parks in the nation, even larger than New York's Central Park. Photo by Ivan LaBianca.

Restoring The Rouge

What happens when a community gathers to work together? Great things. Rouge Park is owned by the city, but in these hard economic times it is essentially cared for by local groups, including Friends of Rouge Park and The Greening of Detroit. The Greening of Detroit will use Go Zero donations to facilitate five tree-planting events at Rouge Park over 18 months. Photo by Ivan LaBianca.

Fund Staffers At Rouge Park

An expert tree planter helping out at the Rouge Park event gives an assist to Fund staff members Jena Meredith, right, director of Go Zero, and CIO Wendy Sams-Richardson, left. Detroit native Sams-Richardson said: “Digging the hole was harder than I thought because the ground was clay and hard to dig. It took about an hour.” Photo by Ivan LaBianca.

Volunteers Planting Trees At Rouge Park

More than 200 volunteers of all ages joined Fund staff members at the tree-planting event at Rouge Park. The park has long been a popular destination for families to picnic, swim and play outdoors. There is a golf course and driving range, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, playgrounds, bike trails, campsites and swimming pools. But in recent years, like much of Detroit, the park has fallen on hard times—prompting the community to get involved in restoration efforts. Photo by Ivan LaBianca.